Scourge of Paris may design London stadium

A consortium including the architect Rod Sheard, a high-profile and controversial supporter of London's Olympic bid, has emerged as the favourite to win the contract to build the main stadium for the 2012 Games. A joint tender by Sheard's company HOK, one of the most highly respected in stadium design, and the construction giant Sir Robert McAlpine is among about six candidates that tendered for the contract before Tuesday's deadline.

With Wembley still blighting the reputation of the British sports construction industry the Olympic Delivery Authority has insisted on bids from consortiums comprising architects and construction experts, and the HOK-McAlpine bid is well placed. McAlpine built Arsenal's Emirates Stadium on time and to budget, winning the praise of Jack Lemley, chairman of the ODA which will choose the winning candidate.

Sheard is responsible for a long list of high-profile projects including the roof on Wimbledon's Centre Court. But he courted controversy during the final stage of the Olympic bid when, two days before the decisive vote in Singapore, he criticised the Stade de France, the centrepiece of the rival Paris bid, on a London 2012 platform. His views were publicly disowned by the bid but his calculated broadside cannot have been any impediment to London's success and his assistance may yet be rewarded with the biggest contract of all.

Wembley: who's winning?

Feuding over Wembley has reached a new low with Wembley National Stadium Ltd and the contractor, Multiplex, unable to agree even on who has come out on top in the recent adjudications intended to unravel the tangle of claim and counter-claim. Verdicts on six complaints lodged by Multiplex have been reached with both sides claiming that they have won four to their opponents' two.

The tedious squabbling, which this week saw Multiplex lodge a 150-page complaint with WNSL claiming damages of £350m, will continue through the autumn as the two sides jostle for position. Multiplex will continue to flex its legal muscle and predict ever more disastrous financial penalties, and WNSL, having lost control of the project and seen relations deteriorate, has little choice but to try to hold Multiplex to its contract.

If the 2007 Cup final is to go ahead at Wembley a deal will have to be struck by January at the latest. With the FA's bankers deeply uneasy about the delay stretching into 2008, the likeliest outcome is that WNSL will drop some of its claims against Multiplex in order to get the stadium finished. Sport England's chairman Patrick Carter is tipped to lead negotiations.

Chinese takeaway

Great Britain's sailing squad had first-hand experience of China's Olympic teething troubles last week when they attended the first test event before the 2008 Bejing Games, an international regatta at the Olympic sailing centre in Qingdao. Jumpy customs officials impounded the team's GPS satellite equipment because they didn't know what it was, confiscated sports drinks and protein powders because they were unmarked, and most bafflingly took the folding bicycles that team members used to get up and down the quayside. Officials declared that the bikes were commercial goods requiring a special licence, leaving Team GB with no choice but to buy replacements from a local supermarket for £20 a pop.

Tour de Farce extra

Further stories emerge of chaos on the final stage of the Tour of Britain, or Tour de Farce as some are now referring to the event. Even before the collision on the Mall between two motorcyclists, one police, the other civilian, that left five people in hospital and the crash in Russell Square in which another police bike ran over a young woman, the rolling closure of London streets was causing mayhem. Eyewitnesses report seeing two police bikes colliding on Baker Street as they prepared for the peleton to pass, leading to a road closure that prevented an ambulance crew from getting to an emergency call.